Buc-ee’s Going After Another Knockoff

A convenience store set to open in Mexico called “BUK-II’S” has attracted the attention of Buc-ee’s Ltd., the growing Texas-based chain known for its giant, destination c-stores located mainly along U.S. interstates.

According to an image posted on Facebook, the “Super Mercado” in Matamoros on the Texas-Mexico border in the state of Tamaulipas, uses a logo—apparently a gopher—that closely resembles the U.S. chain’s grinning beaver.

The store is about to open for business, Ramon Montelongo, who posted the photo, told The San Antonio Express-News. He said he expects it to be more like a typical Mexican c-store, selling fruits, vegetables and beer rather than Buc-ee’s staples such as barbeque, jerky, fudge, kolaches and Beaver Nuggets. It will not offer fuel.

Buc-ee’s vows to take action.

In a statement provided to CSP, Buc-ee’s General Counsel Jeff Nadalo said, “The Buc-ee’s brand represents clean restrooms, freshly prepared food and great service. Buc-ee’s has invested heavily in innovation across the company to create and maintain these award-winning guest experiences. Accordingly, Buc-ee’s will not stand as an idle spectator while others use without permission the intellectual property that Buc-ee’s has cultivated for decades.”

It would not be first time that the retailer has taken legal measures to protect its iconic brand …

In 2019, Maurice Chammah, a Texan traveling in the Middle East, posted a tweet about what appeared to be a Buc-ee’s c-store in Amman, Jordan.

Fellow Texans:

I was driving on a highway north of Amman, Jordan, and found a...Buc-ee's. Or at least, a place claiming to be Buc-ee's.

I have so many questions.

cc: @katerodemann, @elbenson , @mccullarmebad, @pamelacolloff, @MicahHauserpic.twitter.com/s1lrZ4dLcj

— Maurice Chammah🍹🎻 (@MauriceChammah) May 29, 2019

Buc-ee’s got the fake location shut down for imitating the company’s famous logo, according to a report by The San Antonio Express-News.

In 2017, Buc-ee’s sued Omaha, Nebraska-based Buchanan Energy, operating c-stores under the Bucky’s brand, which was preparing to expand into Texas.

The two companies had previously reached an agreement that Buc-ee’s could use its name because the companies’ markets were far enough apart, according to The Houston Chronicle. Bucky’s then revealed a plan to open at least six locations in Texas, said the report.

Buc-ee’s argued that the Bucky’s name was too similar to its own to operate in overlapping markets. And with the agreement apparently at risk, Buc-ee’s took “action to ensure that our brand integrity remains intact,” Buc-ee’s co-founder and CEO Beaver Aplin said at the time.

Casey’s General Stores Inc., Ankeny, Iowa, acquired Bucky’s in 2021.

In 2018, Buc-ee’s won a legal dispute with Choke Canyon Travel Centers over the competing convenience-store chain’s logo, merchandise and business methods. It sued owner Amjad Panjwani, as well as Shepherd Retail Inc. and Harlow Food Inc., the owner-operators of Choke Canyon Travel Centers and Choke Canyon Bar-B-Q in Atascosa, Texas.

Buc-ee’s attorneys argued that Choke Canyon’s alligator in a yellow circle was too similar to Buc-ee’s beaver in a yellow circle. The jury found that San Antonio-based Choke Canyon’s alligator logo violated state and federal trademark law by infringing on the pre-established logo of Buc-ee’s, said the report.

U.S. District Judge Keith Ellison asked the lawyers for both sides to meet regarding how to deal with the trademark violations, the newspaper said. Choke Canyon’s lawyer said any similarity was unintentional and that a New Zealand designer who did not know about Buc-ee’s created the alligator logo.

Buc-ee’s legal team also noted similarities between the two companies’ stores and their offerings. The team argued that the infringement extends to the shape and general appearance of its retail outlets, including the decor, the menu and other features reflecting on the chain’s overall image that make its stores “immediately identifiable and unique.”

Choke Canyon Travel Center no longer uses the alligator logo.

In 2014, Buc-ee’s filed a trademark infringement lawsuit in the Houston Division of the Southern District of Texas against B&B Grocery Inc., Anica B. Joran and Austin Logo Designs LLC.

B&B Grocery operated a c-store and Shell gas station in Garner, Texas, called the Frio River Grocery, which used the “Frio Beaver” in its logo. Buc-ee’s said it used infringing marks designed by defendant Austin Logo Designs, according to the lawsuit.

The defendant’s willful use of confusingly similar trademarks constituted an invasion of the plaintiff’s valuable property rights in a manner that unjustly enriched the defendant, it said.

The plaintiff sought a temporary restraining order against use of the infringing marks, actual and statutory damages in an amount to be determined by the court, plus costs.

The parties reached a settlement, and the store no longer uses the beaver logo.

In 2013, Buc-ee’s filed suit against Chicks Development Group LLC, the owners of Chicks, a new convenience store in Bryan, Texas, including Ray Hansen, company secretary, and Jackson Fulham, company president. A Texas district court dismissed the trademark infringement case pending the completion of a settlement the two parties reached.

The lawsuit stems from the similar concepts, including site and store design, product mix, construction and logo. The Chicks logo was a “copy of, or at the very least suggestive of, Buc-ee’s logo.”

The court documents also detail similarities in building design (including size, style, configuration, materials, color schemes), parking, fuel dispensers, bathrooms (including number and size), fountain and foodservice offerings, as well as website design.

Buc-ee’s contended that the similarities would confuse consumers. It asserted that by using features similar to those found outside and inside Buc-ee’s stores, Chicks was potentially harming the chain in several ways, including placing the reputation of Buc-ee’s in the hands of Chicks’ owners and employees and allowing Chicks “to gain acceptance for their convenience store services and products based on ... the reputation and goodwill of Buc-ee’s.”

In 2014, Susser Holdings Corp., then owner of the Stripes c-store chain now owned by 7-Eleven, acquired Chicks.

Buc-ee’s opened its 46th location on June 26 in Sevierville, Tennessee. The store’s 74,000-square-foot floor plan makes it the world’s largest convenience store, the company said. It takes the title from Buc-ee’s own 68,000-square-foot New Braunfels, Texas, store, and it will remain the biggest until the company opens its 75,000-square-foot location in Luling, Texas, in February 2024. 

• Buc-ee’s is No. 153 on CSP’s 2023 Top 202 ranking of U.S. convenience-store chains by store count.

Along with its giant c-store, Buc-ee’s Sevierville has 120 gas fueling positions and a car wash, and it features the chain’s famous clean restrooms. The store offers Buc-ee’s favorites including Texas barbeque, homemade fudge, kolaches, Beaver Nuggets, jerky and fresh pastries.

Buc-ee’s also recently broke ground on a 53,471-square-foot travel center in Smiths Grove, Kentucky, the retailer’s second in the Bluegrass State. The first, Buc-ee’s Richmond, opened in April 2022. Smiths Grove will be the smallest city in the country with a Buc-ee’s, said the company.

Founded in Texas in 1982, Lake Jackson, Texas-based Buc-ee’s operates 46 stores across Texas and the South. Since beginning its multi-state expansion in 2019, Buc-ee’s has opened travel centers in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, South Carolina and Tennessee. Buc-ee’s is headed West with store groundbreakings in Colorado and Missouri.